Mosquito: Menacing the Reich: Combat Action in the Twin-engine Wooden Wonder of World War II (20 page)

Meanwhile, 128 Lancasters of 3 Group carried out a Gee-H night raid on Koblenz on 6/7 November. Eighteen Mosquitoes raided Hannover and eight more went to Herford, while forty-eight Mosquitoes of the LNSF carried out a Spoof raid on Gelsenkirchen to draw German night-fighters away from the two Main Force raids. The Gelsenkirchen raid began as planned, five minutes ahead of the two other attacks, at 19.25 hours. The city was still burning as a result of an afternoon raid that day by 738 RAF bombers. From their altitude of 25,000ft the Mosquitoes added their red and green TIs and high explosives to the fires. A few searchlights and only very light flak greeted the crews over the devastated city. On 25/26 November a force of sixty-eight Mosquitoes attacked Nuremberg.

After a couple of operations like their first two in September Flight Lieutenant Chas Lockyer
DFC
and Flying Officer Bart ‘Jock’ Sherry
DFC
* were thoughtful about their chance of doing another fifty-three to complete the tour. Lockyer noted that ‘the good old Law of Averages prevailed and the next half a dozen ops were comparatively uneventful’. But on 3/4 November, whilst taking off for another Berlin raid, their aircraft had swung to the left due to the port engine suddenly losing power. Lockyer closed the throttles but he was unable to prevent the Mosquito from crashing into the radar hut at the other side of the perimeter track. Both men’s top front teeth were knocked out but they were fit to fly again three weeks later, as Lockyer recounts:
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At the end of November there was a somewhat more unwelcome diversion in our flying programme when somebody at Command decided to try a daylight raid, employing the American pattern of flying in tight formation, led by two Oboe Mosquitoes and bombing in salvo. With no defensive armament we were inclined to think that this was carrying cockiness a bit too far, even though we were promised a fighter escort. [This operation took place on 29/30 November, with thirty Mosquitoes of 8 (PFF) Group attacking the
Gessellschaft Teerverwertung
tar and benzol plant in the Meiderich district of Duisburg]. At the appointed time and place the Mossies rendezvoused, but with no sign of the fighter escort, and since our time schedule didn’t allow us to hang about waiting for them we pressed on. We were halfway along the straight and level run-up to the target when I spotted high above us a cluster of fighters. They had single engines and square wing tips, so they were probably Me 109s. If they were, then that famous ‘corner of a foreign field’ was going to accommodate twenty-four new permanent guests. It was with a tremendous sense of relief that we identified them as Mustangs, as they dived towards us. Just at that moment the flak started to burst among us and they retreated as quickly as they’d arrived and stood off nicely out of range, eyeing us, as Jock put it so succinctly, with morbid interest. They rejoined us when we were safely away from the target and we saw no sign of enemy fighters.
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We flew two more daylights after that but luckily never encountered any enemy fighter opposition, but on one of the raids I saw a Fortress going down over Rotterdam, and watching that great aircraft helplessly spiralling earthwards was one of my saddest moments of the War. After that we were thankful for the cover of darkness again, although Berlin appeared on the board at briefing more and more often until Jock knew its street geography better than he knew his native Glasgow. We got belted once more on a low-level attack on Erfurt and flak pierced our hydraulics, resulting in a flight home with the bomb doors open. Without flaps we opted for the emergency landing strip at Woodbridge in Suffolk and landed without any further problems, although Jock had to use the emergency system to pump down the undercarriage. And so our tour drew towards its end, but we completed it in style with nine of our last eleven trips to Berlin and we finally finished about three weeks before the German surrender.

On the night of 9/10 December
Feldwebel
Reichenbach of 4./NJG11 claimed a Mosquito near Berlin but the sixty Mosquitoes that attacked the ‘Big City’ returned without loss. One of them was a 139 Squadron Mosquito XX, one of five pathfinders airborne that night, crewed by Flight Lieutenant Mark Wallis and Flight Lieutenant Fred Crawley
DFC
. Crawley explains:

The programme detailing the names of crews to fly that night on operations usually appeared on the mess notice-board around mid-day. No matter how many operations one had under your belt, even the most experienced felt that tightening in the stomach that presaged night operations. The night-flying test in the afternoon, with its well-tried procedures and familiarity, coupled with the affection that exists between a particular crew and a particular aeroplane, restored the confidence. Later, at the crew briefing, when the target and route details were disclosed, nerves were well under control. The route was to be: Upwood to the coast. Then north-eastwards across the North Sea to the red rock island of Heligoland (there was a fighter airstrip on the nearby sand island of Dune). Then landfall north of the wide Elbe estuary  the Great Lakes NW of Berlin – Berlin  return on a straight line to the Zuider Zee and home to base. The bomb load was to be: Target Indicator (Green & Yellow) bursting at 9,800ft; Target Indicator (Green with Red drip) bursting at 8,000ft; Photo-flash Red and one 500lb HE bomb. Weather conditions were described as good for take-off and return at Upwood, with considerable cloud formations over most of Germany.

Upwood at 20.45 hours was a busy airfield, with the Lancasters of 156 Squadron and the Mosquitoes of 139 vying with one another on the perimeter track, anxious to get airborne. Rolling now, with a touch of rudder to correct swing, we got off at 20.46 hours and with wheels and flaps up, turned straight away on to the first course of 067, climbing at 160 knots to the English coast at Cromer. The 20 minutes’ climb to 17,000ft at the coast found the navigator busy using Gee fixes to keep the aircraft on the planned track to the coast. (The calculation of wind speed and direction was not of much use because of the continual increase in height, but the noting of drift often gave indication of what to expect.) The coastline showed clearly on H2S and Cromer passed underneath at 21.09 when navigation lights and IFF were switched off. The two-stage booster was now put in to the engines and the next 24 minutes had the aircraft climbing to the operational height of 25,000ft. During this time the navigator fixed the aircraft’s position every 3 minutes by Gee and calculated the wind velocity throughout the height bands. Accurate navigation throughout this stage was vital to the success of the operation when the aircraft could be flown with no interference from enemy action. On this operation, the calculated winds proved to be considerably stronger than forecast and about 10-15° to the southward of forecast. Navigation proceeded steadily until about 5° east, when enemy jamming of Gee rendered the equipment ineffective.

On DR navigation, we turned almost due east running towards Heligoland, a good H
2
S target and very useful, where the next turning point, about 8 miles north of the island, would require a route marker to be fired off for the Main Force. Although I had never seen an aircraft shot down over the island, their anti-aircraft guns could make it pretty uncomfortable if you strayed too near. The island of Heligoland appeared on the H
₂
S screen and from the present track it was clear we were running too close to the island on the starboard side. An ‘S’ turn to port put this right and at 22.02 hours the route marker for the Main Force was fired to indicate the turning point north of Heligoland. It was bitterly cold, with the outside temperature gauge indicating -50° and the heating system could not prevent thick ice forming on the inside of the side-blisters.

Approaching the enemy coast, the coastline showed clearly on H
2
S and once again we had drifted two to three miles south of track of the flight plan. Another route marker was fired crossing the enemy coast with the Main Force being informed on VHF that the marker was 3 miles south of track. Shortly afterwards two more flares went down on the port side. At 22.17 radar bearings on Hamburg and Harburg confirmed that the aircraft was still 4 miles south of track plan and at 22.25 hours an alteration to port was made to reach the Great Lakes at 22.37 hours. At the Great Lakes the reception committee awaited. The lakes showed up so well on radar (despite German attempts to cover them to spoil radar definition) that most operations were routed to the lakes, leaving only a 10-minute run-in to Berlin. The Germans knew this and therefore used the lakes area as a marshalling point for fighters. Usually with a height advantage and with all the Mosquitoes streaming contrails, the night-fighters had a chance to intercept on the run-in to Berlin, when the pathfinder aircraft had to fly straight and level. Heads down and sweat it out, was the order of the day.

On this occasion no night-fighters were seen but heavy ack-ack was predicted as always with remarkable accuracy and the ride was uncomfortable. The TIs were dropped at 22.45 hours, Main Force being advised as the drop took place; straight and level for the photograph and then a hard turn to starboard, nose down to reduce height to 22,000ft and the hard slog home against the wind. The home trek against a 65-knot headwind meant almost a full hour’s flying to reach the enemy coast. Gee was ineffective and pulses would only start to appear through the jamming when approaching the Zuider Zee; the route chosen was well clear of all large towns and H
2
S gave little or no hope for bearings. The moon was now well up and the cloud layer well below at around 12-15,000ft. Visibility was good and it was a question of DR navigation and wait for Gee and H
2
S to come back on line nearing the coast. It was remarkable how lonely it was at 22,000ft late at night with only the presence of your partner and the occasional brief comment between you to break the loneliness. The aircraft was going well and thoughts of bacon and eggs started to intrude and yet….

About 10° east and north of Hanover began the feeling of unease. Nothing appeared to be wrong but the feeling persisted and indeed was getting stronger. A check of fuel, engine gauges, etc., showed nothing out of the ordinary and in desperation I told my pilot I was going to have a look backwards through the astrodome (the only way you could see aft in a Mosquito). Unlike daytime when you cannot see easily into sun, at night you cannot see easily down moon as this is the dark side of the sky. Also at night you usually do not see objects you look at directly, so the trick is to keep your head moving and hope to see from the periphery of your eyes. After a good look around and seeing nothing except our own contrails, I was about to sit down when suddenly my eye picked up something on the dark side to starboard. Once having seen something and just like radar, you can ‘wash’ it with your eyes and you can see it. And there it was, a singleengined aircraft, slightly down and off to the starboard side, converging slowly. As the distance between us decreased and with us aware, as the fighter turned towards us we made a steep diving turn to starboard, putting us now in the dark side of the sky. Tracer went over the top of the aircraft but no hits. The westerly course was resumed shortly afterwards and when the feeling of unease returned I needed no telling our friend was back, probably having carried out the same manoeuvre as us. This time, without waiting for a sighting, a second hard turn to starboard was made, flying on a reciprocal course back into Germany for 2 minutes before resuming our course homewards. No more unease and I was convinced he had given up. I have often wondered about this episode. When I do, I always remember how deeply superstitious most aircrew were, always wearing the same things and dressing in the same order and so on, before an operation; perhaps senses were more finely attuned during those difficult times. There were no more problems coming home. The Zuider Zee came up, Gee came back on stream and the gradual let-down over the North Sea to land at base at 01.15 hours. We were welcomed by the WAAF Officer in the debriefing room with hot tea laced with real Jamaica rum and bacon and egg in the mess. It was nice to be back.

Two nights later when eighty-nine Mosquitoes went to various city targets one of the aircraft that failed to return from the raid on Hamburg was claimed by
Oberleutnant
Kurt Welter of II./NJG11.
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Unteroffizier
Scherl of 8./NJG1 claimed a Mosquito east of Hagen on the night of 12/13 December when 540 aircraft attacked Essen and, although six Lancasters were lost, all twenty-eight Mosquitoes that attacked Essen and forty-nine others that raided Osnabrück returned safely.
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Another daylight raid was despatched on 11 December when two waves drawn from 128 Squadron raided Hamborn. When 13 December broke it was under a very heavy frost and towards mid-morning thick fog enveloped stations in Norfolk and operations were scrubbed very early. That night fifty-two Lancasters and seven Mosquitoes of 5 Group flew to Norway to attack the German cruiser
Köln
but by the time they reached Oslo Fjord, the ship had sailed so instead other ships were bombed. On 15/16 December 327 Lancasters and Mosquitoes of 1, 6 and 8 Groups raided Ludwigshafen and one Lancaster was lost.

On 18 December the size of 8 Group was increased when 162 Squadron reformed at Bourn under the command of Wing Commander J.D. Bolton
DFC
. The squadron was operational in two days but crews were unable to complete night flying tests on their H
2
S-equipped Mosquito B.XXVs because of the foggy weather. At Bourn on the afternoon of 21 December the crews were called to briefing for a Spoof raid on the important marshalling yards at Cologne/Nippes which the ‘heavies’ would bomb an hour or two later, the purpose being to help cut the jugular vein feeding the Ardennes offensive. Altogether, 136 aircraft  sixty-seven Lancasters, fifty-four Halifaxes and fifteen Mosquitoes of 4, 6, and 8 Groups, were despatched and no aircraft were lost. Soon 162 Squadron was accompanying 139 Squadron on target-marking duties. In December some Mosquito Oboe aircrew were selected to fly a new technique, as Flight Lieutenant John D.S. Garratt, a navigator on 109 Squadron at Little Staughton explains: